The Paths We Take
by GeorgeAndrews
Summary: You never know what fate has in store for us. What paths our lives will take and who will affect it. My response to Kates89 Children Challenge.


A/N - My response to Kates89 Children Challenge. The options I received are at the end.

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"Danny? Danny? Open up, brother!"

Danny Messer groaned and blearily blinked his eyes open to meet the golden sunshine of the mid afternoon.

"Come on man, it's me Luc. I gotta surprise with me."

Danny blinked again to clear the sleep from his eyes and frowned as he cast his eyes over the state of his bedroom. Clothes were strewn about all over the place, odd coins scattered the floor, a spider plant had been upended into the bin where it had so obviously fallen while numerous other items; a comb, aftershave, his spare glasses and hair gel lay surrounding the wicker basket like suppliants to a huge totem.

"Urgh..." Danny rasped as he sat up and screwed his eyes up in pain from the sudden headache that appeared from nowhere.

"Danny? Danny?"

Danny's eyes sprung open and he wearily pushed his way to the side of his bed and swung his feet down to the floor. His head felt fuzzy, his whole body felt fuzzy and his memory was even worse. The fuzz on the last night's events wasn't lifting and all Danny knew was that he must have been shit faced.

"Hurry up, man! I know ya in there, I put ya there myself last night...make that this morning."

Luc's voice drifted loudly through his front door and Danny groaned in irritation at his perky neighbour. Why did Luc always have to be such a chirpy chipper sort? Slowly Danny pushed himself up and staggered out into his lounge. It wasn't quite as messy; clearly his bedroom had taken the brunt of his drunken antics at whatever time he had got in that morning; the spider plant fortunately being the only fatality. He had just reached the front door when something in the back of his mind told him to look down and he was all too glad for that inner voice. He'd been sleeping naked and had obviously pulled off his clothes at one point during the night.

"Dannnnnnnyyyyyyy!"

"Yeah, give me a sec..." Danny coughed, his throat felt like he'd swallowed barbed wire.

"About time!" the voice on the other side of the door exclaimed.

Danny shuffled back to his room and donned a pair of sweats as quickly as possible, stepping both feet into the same leg twice before finally getting the knack of how to correctly put on trousers. He grabbed a t-shirt and yanked it over his head as he made his way back to the door and pulled it open.

"Dante, there you are brother," said the smiling face of Danny's neighbour Luc.

"I ain't your brother, Luc," Danny muttered as he eyed his friend suspiciously.

"We're brothers, I've known you long enough," Luc grinned as he bent down to pick up the items next to him.

"Oh God, is that what I think it is?" Danny said in a blasé tone.

"Sure is," Luc smiled. "I told you I would eventually bring over the little chappie for you to meet. My first kid."

"Fine," Danny sighed as he stood back and let Luc come in with the baby carrier and then shut the door.

"He's kinda fat, Luc, takes after his Papa," Danny snorted as he made his way over to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee.

"He's a growing lad now," Luc smiled proudly. "He'll grow up big and strong like his Papa."

"He's kinda quiet. I thought babies just cried all the time," Danny grunted.

"He's sleeping, his Mama sung him beautiful lullabies this morning," Luc said happily, subconsciously looking towards the wall that separated his own apartment from Danny's.

"Lucky him" Danny snarked as he looked back longingly through the door to his bedroom where he knew his comfortable bed lay.

"You've been asleep long enough, my friend. Time to be up and make the most of the day," Luc grinned, flashing a brilliant smile of pearly white teeth.

Danny frowned and muttered something under his breath as he popped two aspirin into his mouth and downed them in one with a glass of tepid tap water. Luc had been his best friend since they were kids, their fathers being good friends too and the two of them had got a place together as soon as they'd been old enough to escape their parents' houses. Those had been the 'fun' years as Danny recalled. Late nights, even later mornings, lots of girls, parties, drugs and not much work. But that had almost been a lifetime ago. It had been Luc who had changed first. He'd met a girl, a stunningly attractive, gorgeous young thing that he would have been an idiot to let go of. So eventually, Luc had wanted to move her into their apartment. As luck would have it the one next door had come up for rental so Danny had moved into that one and started to weigh up his own life in comparison to that of his friend. Luc now had his girl and had got a job as a writer for a paper; he'd always had an eloquent way with words. Danny knew then that it was time to grow up. It had taken six months of that particular year and had almost been Christmas when Danny had found himself sat in his apartment with Luc reading one of his friend's stories. It was a report on a crimescene and in the picture to go alongside it was a couple of CSI's shuffling the reporters and paparazzi away.

"That looks like fun," Danny had commented casually.

"You should do that, brother. You'd be great at it," Luc had replied back.

And that was it. Danny was accepted into the Police Academy and graduated second from top of his class; only some black-haired, toffee-nosed kid from a long line of cops beating him. Now he was two months off sitting his detective's exam and the year after he would hopefully be graduating with his chemistry degree. Then he could finally apply for a CSI position one day.

"Hey, where you at, brother?" Luc asked as he sat back on the couch and once more flashed a charming grin.

Danny smirked. With a smile like that it was no wonder Luc had always been the one to have the ladies eating out of the palm of his hand. He was typically Italian; bronzed skin, dark hair, a dark moustache and small goatee, deep brown eyes and a muscular and shapely torso. The ladies had always loved him, and Luc had always loved them back...well, until the day he met his girl.

"Coffee," Danny grunted in reply and poured out two mugs.

"Thanks," Luc as he graciously accepted the mug full of steaming black liquid.

"So this is the little fella," Danny murmured as he sat in his easy chair and stared down at the baby who seemed to be just about waking up.

"Sure is," Luc replied proudly. "Isn't he handsome like his Papa?"

"Kinda looks like a blob to me," Danny stated.

"Dante!" Luc growled.

"Hey," Danny scorned. "Only my Ma is allowed to call me that. And Luigi if I'm in a good mood."

"I see only one brother then but not me," Luc chuckled.

"You ain't my brother," Danny repeated his earlier sentiments but laughed with his friend anyway. "Besides, you hate me calling you Luciano."

"Eh...it's too pompous," Luc laughed as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Hey, he's woken up," Danny said, jerking a thumb in the direction of the baby.

"Must have been the laughter," Luc nodded. "Heya baby, here's Papa, yes it is, it's your Papa..."

"You sound stupid," Danny commented as he watched his friend bent over, talking in a funny voice to his son.

"You just wait till you have one, you won't feel so stupid then, my friend," Luc replied knowingly.

"We'll see," Danny said, unimpressed. "Gotta find the right lady first."

"She's out there, you just gotta wait. She'll sweep you off your feet, you just wait," Luc smiled.

"Speaking from experience?" Danny asked.

"Sure am," Luc replied.

The two friends smirked at each other before Luc looked back down at his son.

"Hey, he's sure taken an interest in you," Luc frowned as he watched the baby stare at Danny, mouth slightly open and soft gurgling noises coming from his mouth.

"What can I say, I'm just good to look at," Danny grinned and subconsciously ran a hand through his hair.

"Nah, he just can't get over your ugly mug," Luc laughed as he bent forward and undid the strap of the baby carrier. "Come here, little man, you sit up with your Papa."

Danny watched as Luc gently took the baby in his arms and began cradling him against his chest, cooing softly at him.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Danny murmured as he watched, almost mesmerised by the sight.

"I think he'd like his Uncle Danny to give him a hold...wouldn't you like that eh?" Luc asked his son.

"What?" squeaked Danny, shuffling backwards on his chair.

"Come on, my friend, it will be good practice for when your own bambino comes along," Luc said as he stood and placed the baby into Danny's arms.

"What... but...meh...I..."Danny spluttered before silencing himself as the baby was given to him.

"There, see, he likes you," Luc chuckled.

Danny stared down at the tiny thing in his arms. A person. A tiny little person that belonged to his greatest friend in the entire world. All of a sudden an overwhelming need to protect and look after this little thing surged through Danny. This tiny boy was Luciano's son. His blood and heir and Danny knew then that he would look after this boy no matter what. He would give his life to ensure his safety and survival and would help his friend teach the kid everything he knew about the world.

"Look at him staring at you," Luc said breaking into Danny's thoughts.

Danny blinked at his friend and then looked back down at the baby. Luc was right. The tiny boy's brown eyes were open wide and staring right back at Danny in curiosity of this strange man. His tiny arms were moving slowly and little fists curling and uncurling.

"I've never seen him stare so much at someone. My Ma will be ever so envious," Luc commented.

"How is your Ma?" Danny asked, though his eyes never left the curious little boy.

"She's well. Her and Pa are off to Castelraimondo next week to see my grandparents," Luc replied.

"Sounds nice. I could do with a good long holiday myself," Danny sighed.

"Seems to me you don't really need one if you're partying like you did last night," Luc scolded his friend.

"Shit," Danny suddenly swore. "Did I wake you guys up?"

"Not in front of the bambino," Luc warned at Danny's curse word. "But I was already up, he'd had me up for forty minutes before I heard you singing down the hallway."

"Singing?" Danny exclaimed.

"Yeah, you couldn't slot your key into the lock and were singing about it," Luc sniggered.

"Sh... um...shoot," Danny coughed. "Sorry, man."

"It's alright, like I said, I was already up with my little man. So I came over and helped you inside where you fell into that side table in your bedroom and then flat onto the bed. After that you were spark out," Luc explained.

"Man, I gotta stop doing that," Danny moaned.

"Glurbabba..."

Danny and Luc both stared down at the baby boy as he gurgled loudly at Danny, drool covering his chin.

"He really does like you," Luc chuckled.

"Yeah, but I think he likes his Papa better," Danny grinned as he stood and gave the baby back to Luc.

"Exactly how it should be," Luc replied proudly as he one-handedly took a cloth out of his bag and began wiping off the drool.

"Oh hey, I've decided I want to get him Baptised, you know, follow our Catholic roots and all that," Luc suddenly said, looking up at Danny.

"Sure," Danny nodded understandingly.

"I want you to be there," Luc stated plainly.

"Me?" Danny asked. "I'll have to see if I can get the time off work."

"Dante, I want you there," Luc said in a stern voice. "I want you to be his guardian, his godfather. To watch over him if anything ever happened to me..."

"Luc..." Danny interrupted, blue eyes staring wide at his friend.

"No Dante, I mean it. You never know what God has in store for us and I want to know that my son will be looked after," Luc said seriously.

Danny took in a few gulps of air. Once again he felt that protective instinct that had surged round his body when he'd held the tiny baby.

"Of course, Luciano. Of course I will look after your son," Danny replied.

The two held eye contact for a moment and a silent contract passed between them over the care for the small boy.

"Let me write down the address for you," Luc finally said, searching around for a pen and paper.

"Here, I got it," Danny stated, grabbing at the pad of sticky post-it-notes he had on the small table beside his easy chair.

"NYPD organisation skills," Luc joked as he recited the address of the church and the date and time while Danny wrote it down.

"There," Danny replied as he stood up and went into his kitchen and stuck the post-it-note up on the front of his fridge. "Now I won't forget."

"You better not," Luc replied.

"Course I won't," Danny rolled his eyes.

Luc grinned and then bent forward to place the baby back into his carrier.

"Well, I think it's time we be getting back to Mama, yes?" Luc grinned at his son.

"So soon?" Danny asked.

"I'm sure you'd like to be left alone to your bed for a few more hours," Luc laughed knowingly. "I thought you might be properly awake by now."

"Nah, it's okay. It was great to meet the little chap who's gonna be taking over your life now," Danny grinned.

"He sure will be," Luc nodded in agreement. "You wanna say goodbye to your Uncle Dante?" he asked his son.

"Danny," Danny corrected him as he came over and bent over the tiny boy. "See ya later, buddy."

The baby gurgled excitedly and one of his tiny hands gently made contact with Danny's cheek.

"Hey," Danny exclaimed playfully s he straightened up.

"Eh...he's a little fighter," Luc laughed. "And he's just curious about you."

"I'm not surprised. Man of mystery me," Danny laughed back as he held open the door for his best friend and neighbour to pass through.

"Not that mysterious. There ain't nothing deep about you Messers," Luc laughed as he went out into the corridor and then knocked on the next door along.

"Hey!" Danny exclaimed. "We ain't as bad as you Sandovals!"

"Whatever," Luc replied, smirking.

"Say hi to Rikki for me," Danny nodded as he began to close his door.

"I will," Luc replied. "Come on Ruben, let's see what Mama's been up to."

Danny chuckled at his friend's baby talk and then shut his door, looking forward to the exciting experiences he might have with Luc and Rikki as their son grew up into a man. Unknowing that within forty-eight hours Luc would be shot dead in a bodega robbery. Unknowing that a few years later Ruben would suffer the same fate as his father. Unknowing that these incidents would change his life forever... and lead him to finally realise own saviour. His wife.

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A/N - I got Danny Messer/ Ruben Sandoval, Curious and Post-it-notes.


End file.
